7 Haiku
Evening cherry-blossoms:
Today also now belongs
To the past.
***
Simple trust:
Do not the petals flutter down,
Just like that?
***
A world of grief and pain:
Flowers bloom;
Even then.....
***
Spring begins again;
Upon folly,
Folly returns.
***
Plum blossoms:
My spring
Is an ecstasy.
***
Even among insects, in this world,
Some are good at singing,
Some bad.
***
Sacred music at night;
Into the bonfires
Flutter the tinted leaves.
Silent Flowers (1967, Hallmark Editions and Hokuseido Press)
For Issa specifically, try here: https://haikuguy.com/issa/
Here are his versions of two of the haiku posted above:
spring begins--
more foolishness
for this fool
my spring
is lucky, lucky!
plum blossom
Sorry, but it's sentimental translations like these that give haiku a bad name. (And, the plural of haiku is . . . haiku.)